By JAMES THORNER, Times Staff WriterStudents who failed the FCAT find out today whether they will graduate this month. Special-education students still have a chance.
Pasco County high school seniors who didn't pass the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test should learn today whether they'll get a diploma this month.
Of the 2,984 prospective graduates among nine high schools, 184 students, or 6 percent, failed the test tests taken in March.
At Land O'Lakes High School, which fared worse than average, 9 percent of seniors failed in their latest crack at the FCAT. Most won't graduate with their class on May 23.
"Any time you have seniors who don't meet the requirement - as a school administrator, you're always disappointed," Land O'Lakes principal Ray Bonti said.
But caution is in order in interpreting the numbers.
When the school year ends, some students won't have a high enough grade point average or enough credits to graduate, anyway, so the FCAT by itself wouldn't have cut it.
And 68 of the 184 seniors who failed the FCAT qualify as special-education students. If their class work is otherwise reasonably good, they might graduate despite the FCAT.
"Ninety-four percent graduation rate. That's not bad," said Bob Dorn, the administrator who oversees high schools for the district. "It could end up being 96 percent or 97 percent."
Pasco High School reported that 17 kids failed out of a class of 268, five of them special education. Principal Pat Reedy noted that a good percentage of those kids speak English as a second language.
"It's what I had anticipated," Reedy said. "Right, wrong or indifferent, that's the standard kids have to meet."
Bonti dubbed the failures at Land O'Lakes a "significant amount." To break the bad news, guidance counselors plan to call seniors who failed the test into their offices today.
High-schoolers can take the FCAT up to six times, starting their sophomore year. More than 90 percent of seniors had already passed before the latest testing in March.
Failure to pass the FCAT means seniors are eligible for a "certificate of completion" but not a standard diploma that paves the way for admission to college and the military.
All isn't lost for those who fail the FCAT, though. The week of June 9 is devoted to further FCAT preparation and one more round of testing, is scheduled for the week of June 23. Those who pass are eligible to graduate in August.
Also on the most-watched list were FCAT reading scores for third-graders, which determines whether students advance to fourth grade.
As reported last week, 1,003 Pasco third-graders - or 25 percent - failed the test. On Monday, Pasco administrators tried to predict how many kids they would hold back next year.
Among the exempt students: special education kids who have already failed a grade and kids from other countries with less than two years of instruction in English.
By subtracting exempted students, the district hopes to whittle the list of repeat third-graders to about 600, or 15 percent of this year's test takers, said superintendent John Long on Monday.
One of the worst-performing schools was Moon Lake Elementary, where 41 percent of 106 third-graders failed the reading test.
Students at Moon Lake also are among the county's poorest, as measured by the 78 percent eligible for free and reduced lunch.
After eliminating students in special education - one-third of the school's enrollment - Moon Lake estimates about 25 percent of third-graders will repeat the grade.
Assistant principal Ken Miesner said he's not thrilled with the scores but stressed that his staff has labored since August to make readers of struggling students.
Like other elementary schools in the district, Moon Lake plans to start contacting parents of failing students today.
"Any time you see 41 percent, it's disappointing," Miesner said. "But we identified those kids at the beginning of the year, and we've been working with them endlessly. We know they've made gains."
- James Thorner can be reached at (813) 909-4613 or toll-free 1-800-333-7505, ext. 4613. His e-mail address is thorner@sptimes.com